At Top Ten Reviews we’ve researched and tested the best video editing software for 14 years. Over the past year, our team of expert reviewers spent more than 155 hours making dozens of videos to evaluate, compare and rate each product. We evaluated, compared and rated each program. In the end, we picked CyberLink PowerDirector as the top choice. Its full array of tools will satisfy both the novice user and the veteran editor. It’s packed with many of the same tools found in professional video editing software. And its 99-track timeline gives you the flexibility to complete complex projects.

The last downside, and perhaps the biggest one for some people, is the lack of 4K video recording. It's kind of a disappointment that phones can do it now but this DSLR still cannot. There are some comparably priced DSLRs from Nikon and others like Sony that have this feature. But honestly, even without this I will still prefer to stay with Canon simply because your camera is only as good as your lens, and Canon has probably the best lenses out there, but definitely without question has the widest selection of lenses to choose from.

Filmora Video Editor for Windows (or Filmora Video Editor for Mac) is a popular video creator for new beginners as well. It contains all the features that a beginner need to create his or her videos. Basic editing features are: cropping, splitting, merging, trimming. Stabilizing videos is available if you think your footage is not great enough. Hand-picked motion graphics, filters, overlays, transitions, split scree, titles, and more will make your videos quite different and great. Now you can download the free trial version to see whether it is suitable for you or not.
With Movavi Video Editor, it’s fun and easy to create wonderful videos even for beginners. Simply drop your media files onto the timeline and use the Windows-friendly editing tools to customize. Like most video editors, the Movavi Video Editor allows you to make basic changes to your clips by trimming, cutting and rotating them to any angle. With this software, however, you can also become your own movie producer by using multiple filters, transitions, titles, stickers and special effects. Show multiple videos on one screen with the picture-in-picture tool or freeze the video at any frame for added emphasis. Make video cards to send to family and friends or preserve vacation memories in a format people will actually want to watch. Automatically improve video quality with Magic Enhance, or manually adjust color parameters like brightness, contrast and saturation for better viewability. Movavi Video Editor even helps you minimize annoying motion distortion with the stabilization tool.
We also spoke with Richard Dutcher, an independent filmmaker and director of eight feature films including “Brigham City,” “Falling," "God's Army” and “Evil Angel.” He told us that the time you spend learning a new program is at a premium. “I like things that are intuitive and with the fastest learning curve. The less time spent becoming familiar and proficient the better. The sooner I can get to work and putting the film together - that’s the most important thing to me.”
The set of features provided in Windows Movie Maker is, yet again, quite modest. You can use only a handful of effects and transitions there, compared to the impressive collection offered in Movavi Video Editor Plus. The same goes for title presets. When you edit your projects, whether at home or in the office environment, you’d probably want a bit more room for creativity. This is precisely what is available to Movavi users, together with handy features like callouts, auto adjustment, and timeline mode.
Blender is mainly 3D animation program but it has the best video editing and compose tool set that is hard to compete with. You can download this software on www.blender.org. The best thing about Blender is that they are always improving, new versions of the programs are released extremely quickly, and there are new and exciting features. It is also a difficult program to learn, but once you get used to it, you can do everything you want with it. Blender has a new rendering engine which is called Cycles and it offers amazing and realistic rendering. The modeling tools are easy to use. You have keyboard shortcuts for a fast workflow. With this software you can transform a model into a real character in just minutes. It also offers amazing simulations, whether you need rain, fire or hair that blows in the wind.

The Edit menu also contains the new Stabilization choice if you're running Windows 8 or 8.1, as well as play speedup and slow-mo (this retains the audio, so you can have fun making you and your friends sound like chipmunks or lions). As in iMovie, all editing is done in the same thumbnail/timeline area—no popup windows for trimming like you find in other video editors like CyberLink PowerDirector.

More options when exporting. Possibility to change the Movie Maker mode from "Beginner" that includes todays Movie Maker functionality to "Expert" that will offer the video editing functionality for the experienced users. Like this this tool can be used by both beginners and experienced users. Because today the experienced users try to avoid Movie Maker. "Beginner" and "Expert" Movie Maker modes could increase the target group of the Movie Maker users.

One of the capabilities that has been making its way into consumer-level video editing software is support for LUTs (lookup tables), also known as CLUTs (color lookup tables). This staple of pro-level software lets you quickly change the look of a video to give it a specific mood. For example, think of the dark blue look of thriller movies like The Revenant. You can download LUTs for free from several sites or use those included with some video software to give your video a specific look. One well-known LUT type is the kind that can make a daytime scene look like it was shot at night.

Adobe Premiere Elements 2018 is perfect for people who want to make home movies to share with friends, but who don’t have much video editing experience. It offers decent functionality for more experienced editors who don’t want to follow the walk-throughs, but other, more robust software might be better if you’re a power user pursuing YouTube stardom.

Tech support and documentation: One of the big distinctions between paid and free software is the level of documentation and tech support; paid software has more-explicit and -detailed documentation and guides than the free versions. That said, many software packages post instructional videos of the most popular features to YouTube, and more-complex free packages may offer extensive documentation.

He went on to say that your end goal should also play a big part in your decision, advising that if you’ll edit video infrequently, you should get simpler software. “If it’s a one-off project, the fewer whistles the better,” Tyler said. He called out Adobe Premiere Elements and Wondershare Filmora as good choices because they have easy-to-understand workflows for non-editors.

Several of the products here (Adobe Premiere Elements is a notable exception) still support 3D video editing if that's your thing, though the this has been replaced by 360-degree VR footage like that shot by the Samsung Gear 360 as the current home-theater fad. As is often the case, our Editors' Choice, CyberLink PowerDirector was the first product in this group to offer support for this new kind of video media.
It splits its interface into two modules: Express and Advanced. These two modes function similar to the storyboard and timeline modes most other software use. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be pleased with the quality of the transitions and effects the software has to help you create videos. Nero Video also supports third-party add-ons. However, it doesn't provide many exporting options, so check that it supports the formats you want to use before you buy. Also, even though this DVD authoring software comes with dozens of transitions, text effects and other effects, it doesn't have as many as other products we reviewed. Still, there may be enough for your needs. This application can create chapters automatically, and you can also insert music and voiceovers. When importing files, you can capture video, audio and images from your computer or any device you connect to it. Before you take the time to burn your project to a disc, you can use the playback option to see how it will work. This DVD authoring software can burn your movies to DVD, AVCHD, CD and Blu-ray discs, as well as save files on your computer or upload them to the internet.
All the other tools you would expect from consumer-level video editing software are present and work excellently. You can add titles, closed captions and other text to your video project with a few simple clicks. You also get a video stabilizer that smooths out shaky video, as well as a library of over 500 effects and transitions for you to choose from.
BTW, for whatever the reason, Canon still does not include a lens hood with the bundle. A bit odd that. So factor in about $35 for that (note that the hood from the older 18-135mm lens included with the 70D won’t work, you’ll need the EW-73D). Plus don’t forget you should really add a UV filter to protect your lens. I recommend a 67mm B+W (Hoya is good too) which won’t break the bank.

In experienced hands, the VSDC Free Video Editor can produce some seriously professional-looking video. In addition to supporting nearly every major video format, the program offers advanced video effects, including object transformation and color correction, as well as advanced audio effects like volume correction and sound normalization. And unlike WeVideo, the VSDC Free Video Editor is truly free. You can use the program's full feature set without having to deal with pesky watermarks.

The whole experience is geared around making it as easy as possible to turn your project into reality. There are two modes in this program: Easy and Full Feature. Easy mode guides you through the video editing process step by step. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the process. You can create some fine videos in this mode, but to really take advantage of Filmora’s wide toolset, you need to use the Full Feature Mode. This mode gives you access to tools from basic trimming and cropping to advanced features like picture-in-picture editing, audio mixer, chroma-key, split screen, video stabilization and much more. Filmora excels at teaching users to use these tools, and anyone with the patience to learn will find it useful. Filmora also has some of the best sharing options of the programs we reviewed. When you’re done with your project, you can export it to a file, upload it to YouTube (or other video-sharing site) or even burn a DVD.
Our video experts examined each of the test DVDs, looking for imperfections in the picture such as pixelation, compression artifact, general distortion and interlacing issues. While no program performed perfectly, the best ones minimized the quality loss caused by compression. At the end of our evaluation, we gave each program a quality grade from A to F.
However, simple editing can be done on the cheap if you’re willing to ditch powerful, high-end software such as Final Cut Pro, or Adobe Premiere, in favor of a more modest program. Let’s face it, you’re probably not going to be taking home the Palme d’Or with the film you cut on your laptop, but your home movies and YouTube uploads can take on a whole new shine with a few straightforward tools.